New control design principles based on measured performance and energy analysis of HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning) systems. Interim report

Technical Report · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5567281

Hittle, D C; Johnson, D L

This report is one of a series on the development of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control systems that are simple, efficient, reliable, maintainable, and well-documented. This report identifies major problems associated with three currently used HVAC control systems. It also describes the development of a retrofit control system applicable to military buildings that will allow easy identification of component failures, facilitate repair, and minimize system failures. Evaluation of currently used controls showed that pneumatic temperature control equipment requires a very clean source of supply air and is also not very accurate. Pneumatic, rather than electronic, actuators should be used because they are cheaper and require less maintenance. Thermistor temperature detectors should not be used for HVAC applications because they require frequent calibration. It was found that enthalpy economy cycles cannot be used for control because the humidity sensors required for their use are prone to rapid drift, inaccurate, and hard to calibrate in the field. Performance of control systems greatly affects HVAC operating costs. Significant savings can be achieved if proportional-plus-integral control schemes are used. Use of the retrofit prototype control panel developed in this study on variable-air-volume systems should provide significant energy cost savings, improve comfort and reliability, and reduce maintenance costs.

• Research Organization: Army Construction Engineering Research Lab., Champaign, IL (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5567281
• Report Number(s): AD-A-151708/5/XAB; CERL-IR-E-85/02
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320103* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- School
Municipal
& Other Public Buildings-- (-1987)
BUILDINGS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
ENERGY SYSTEMS
MAINTENANCE
MILITARY FACILITIES
RELIABILITY
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SPACE HVAC SYSTEMS
THERMISTORS